Whole Foods, which features natural and organic foods,
posted its highest same-store sales increase in a year.

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"Whenever the economy gets weak everybody comes out and
says Whole Foods sales are going to fall. However, that's never
been the case," Chief Executive John Mackey said on a
conference call with analysts, adding that the grocer had not
seen any weakness in places where the housing market has
softened, such as California.

"We're not seeing any weakness in our California stores due
to so-called bubble bursting. We're doing extremely well in
California," Mackey said.

Whole Foods said net profit fell 15 percent to $33.9
million, or 24 cents a share, in the fiscal fourth quarter
ended September 30, from $39.8 million, or 28 cents a share, a
year earlier.

Same-store sales, which tracks sales at stores open at
least a year, were up 8.2 percent. It was the company's best
quarterly same-store sales performance since last year's fourth
quarter.

Whole Foods, which bought Wild Oats in August for $565
million, has faced increasing competition as other grocers
expand their offerings of organic, natural and prepared foods.
The company said it bought Wild Oats so it could compete more
effectively with those stores, but the deal was delayed for
months as U.S. antitrust authorities tried to block it.

Since the deal closed, Whole Foods said it has upgraded
perishable offerings and cut prices on 1,000 products at Wild
Oats stores. The company also plans to spend $40 million to $50
million to remodel the Wild Oats stores, which will be
rebranded as Whole Foods markets.

For fiscal 2008, Whole Foods expects same-store sales to
rise between 7.5 percent and 9.5 percent. For the first seven
weeks of the first quarter, same-store sales are up 9.5
percent, the company said.

At Wild Oats stores, same-store sales are up 6.6 percent so
far in the current quarter compared with a rise of 3.9 percent
in the fourth quarter.

For the year, total sales are expected to rise between 25
percent and 30 percent, Whole Foods said. About 10 percent of
that is expected to come from Wild Oats stores.

Whole Foods, based in Austin, Texas, also said its board of
directors raised its common stock dividend by 11 percent to 20
cents a share.

Whole Foods operates 269 stores and has a goal of reaching
$12 billion in sales in fiscal 2010.

Its shares rose to $42.50 in after-hours trading after
closing at $42.25 on Nasdaq.